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2022 has been a year of incredible breakthroughs in science, medicine and space exploration, which have set the stage for further advances in 2023.
From NASA’s Artemis program, which took us back to the exploration of the Moon, to new methods of rapid and effective vaccine development.
The year 2023 also promises to build on these advances.
Here are five breakthroughs to look forward to.
1. The next generation of vaccines
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Thanks to the success of mRNA vaccines once morest the covid-19 pandemic, all kinds of vaccines using this technology are being developed once morest a whole range of diseases.
Vaccines under development include malaria, tuberculosis, genital herpes, HIV, cystic fibrosis, cancer and several types of lung disease, among others.
German drugmaker BioNTech plans to begin the first human trials of its mRNA vaccine once morest malaria and tuberculosis in a few weeks, while US company Moderna will test its vaccine once morest the viruses that cause genital herpes and shingles.
One of the most promising mRNA vaccines is that once morest cancer. They are designed to recognize cancer cells and destroy them.
Other pharmaceutical companies are investigating the possibility of delivering the Covid vaccine quickly and efficiently through a simple nasal spray. They have worked in animals and human trials are expected soon.
2. Advanced Space Observation
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The Vera C. camera The Rubin telescope camera has a capacity thousands of times greater than that of a conventional camera.
The world has been stunned by new images of the universe taken by the mighty James Webb Space Telescope, the instrument launched by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency that will continue to deliver discoveries for decades.
But there will be more deep exploration instruments.
ESA plans to launch the Euclid telescope in 2023, which will orbit the sun for six years to create a 3D map of the universe. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is developing a mission that will detect X-rays emitted by distant stars and galaxies.
And in Chile, the Vera C. Rubin telescope, whose camera has a detection power of more than 3 billion pixels, is ready to take images next July. The telescope has the capacity to record the entire southern sky in just three days.
3. Missions to the Moon
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NASA’s Lunar Flashlight program will literally illuminate craters and hidden corners of the Moon to analyze the composition of ice deposits.
NASA’s Artemis program, which sent the Orion capsule to the moon with no one on board and successfully returned it to Earth last December, is just the start of more visits from our satellite.
The United Arab Emirates has already launched, on December 11, its Rashid lunar rover, intended to explore the lunar surface. On that date, NASA also sent a satellite into orbit that will explore the composition of frozen water deposits in craters and permanently darkened regions on the Moon.
There’s also Japan’s HAKUTO-R module, which will attempt a smooth moon landing in April, and India’s Chandrayaan-3 module, which aims to land near the moon’s south pole in mid-2023.
One of the most anticipated missions will be the first civilian flight to the Moon. Eleven people will take a six-day trip aboard Elon Musk’s SpaceX company Starship rocket.
4. CRISPR genetic engineering
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2023 might be the year that CRISPR-Cas9 therapy, a gene-editing technique that alters a strand of DNA by cutting part of it and putting it back together to form a new sequence, will be licensed.
The treatment has shown promising results in clinical trials once morest two genetic blood diseases, including sickle cell disease.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics are developing the treatment called exa-cel, which will be submitted for US Food and Drug Administration approval in March.
This clearance will make exa-cel available to patients with sickle cell disease, a serious structural deformity of red blood cells that impedes blood flow.
5. Medicines for Alzheimer’s disease
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Alzheimer’s disease research will enter a drug development phase.
In November this year, the development of a drug capable of slowing the destruction of the brain in Alzheimer’s disease was announced and hailed as a breakthrough.
In early January 2023, the US regulator will announce whether it can be made available to treat patients, although the drug is only effective in the early stages of the disease.
It’s the drug lecanemab, which targets the sticky plaque – called beta-amyloid – that builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
In a field of research plagued with failures, this drug is considered “the beginning of therapies for Alzheimer’s disease”, according to experts.
Another drug, called blarcamesine, which activates a protein that improves the stability of neurons, will continue clinical trials. It is developed by the pharmaceutical company Anavex Life Sciences.